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LEXINGTON, Ky. — With Rick Pitino out at the University of Louisville, what did his former Kentucky players have to say about his time at the University of Kentucky?

“It’s sad to see him have to lose his job this way, but it’s a mistake and it’s a huge mistake,” former UK star Antoine Walker told the Courier-Journal. “It’s an unfortunate situation, but his legacy and him being a Hall of Famer, what he’s done on the court, is still second to none. We can’t let that overshadow it.”

After taking over a Kentucky program recovering from its own recruiting scandal in 1989, Pitino led the Wildcats to 219 wins, three Final Fours, two national championship games and the 1996 national title in eight seasons in Lexington before leaving UK for a job with the NBA’s Boston Celtics.

Pitino was “effectively fired” at Louisville on Wednesday after the FBI alleged in a criminal complaint coaches at U of L participated in a scheme to pay recruits’ families.

The May 7, 1997 edition of the Courier-Journal covered Rick Pitino’s move from the University of Kentucky to the NBA.

“I can’t speak for all my teammates, but it doesn’t change who he is to me,” said former Wildcat Cameron Mills, who arrived at UK as a walk-on under Pitino before eventually working his way into a featured role.

Walker spent two years at Kentucky under Pitino, including the 1996 championship season. Mills won two national titles at Kentucky – one under Pitino – and reached three national championship games.

Mills said in recent years, especially since the 1996 championship team’s 20-year reunion in 2016, he has gained a greater appreciation for Pitino’s effect on his life.

“What I started to think about is I don’t have half the career I wound up having if not for the fact that he treated me the same way he treated Tony Delk and Derek Anderson and Ron Mercer,” Mills said. “I remember definitely thinking this on the boat at the reunion last year: He wasted so much breath yelling at me, he wasted so much energy coaching me because there’s no guarantee I was ever going to amount to anything.”

Walker said Pitino has had a similar impact for him.

“He’s been a father figure. He’s been a guy that taught me how to play the game the right way, taught me how to play hard and how to get the best out of my ability,” Walker said. “He’s been a friend through the toughest times of my life and has reached his hand out to me, done whatever he can to help get me back on my feet. He’s very special to me.”

Pitino is not the first UK Hall of Fame member to come under scrutiny in recent years.

Former UK star Richie Farmer, who played for Pitino in Lexington, was sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison in 2014 after agreeing to a plea deal in which he “accepted responsibility for spending government money on himself, his family and his friends during his time heading the state’s Department of Agriculture.” Farmer’s retired jersey remains in Rupp Arena.

As for Pitino’s honors at UK?

“There is no current procedure in place to remove individuals from the UK Athletics Hall of Fame or from the rafters in Rupp Arena,” UK deputy director of athletics DeWayne Peevey, the chair of UK’s Hall of Fame committee, said in a statement provided to the Courier-Journal. “The UK Athletics Hall of Fame honors individuals for their contributions to the University of Kentucky athletics department. At this time, there are no conversations as it relates to the removal of any individual.”

Former Wildcat Anthony Epps, a member of UK’s 1996 national championship team, declined to comment on Pitino’s legacy in Lexington when reached by the Courier-Journal via text message Wednesday other than to say, “He will always be my coach and I am thankful for him giving me the opportunity to play basketball at UK.”

Epps later tweeted, “I will never say a bad word about Coach P because have gave me a chance to play college ball. What happened at UL has no impact on me!”

Mills, who planned to reach out to Pitino in the coming days, said his former coach’s jersey should remain at Rupp Arena.

“His time here it was what it was, which was almost perfect,” Mills said. “I would imagine there are quite a few people who will see it differently than that. … Myself and a lot of teammates are very loyal to him and still will be very loyal to him, but at the same time I understand those whether they be Louisville fans or Kentucky fans who are thrilled about what happened today. That’s not me.”

Walker said he understood Louisville’s decision to fire Pitino given the program’s three separate scandals, including a NCAA investigation into the use of strippers and prostitutes to attract players to the program and Pitino’s personal sex scandal from 2009, but he also thinks Pitino’s jersey should remain at Rupp Arena.

“I think we all make mistakes in life, and I think this one right here was probably the icing on the cake, being involved in this type of scandal and getting players,” Walker said. “But he’s not the only coach or the only university that’s involved in something like this. I think this has been going on for years. … It does not sum up him as a coach, because I know this goes on at other programs. I know this goes on throughout the country. Unfortunate because of some of the things that have happened in the past he’s on the forefront of it.”

Email Jon Hale at jahale@courier-journal.com. Follow him on Twitter @JonHale_CJ.